Helen Jenkins

Helen is a member of the UK Sport Lottery Funded World-Class Performance Squad and is based in Bridgend, South Wales. She has represented Team GB at three Olympic Games and has won the ITU world title twice.

Helen is a three-time Olympian, and won the ITU world title in 2008 and 2011

Helen has achieved more ITU World Triathlon Series podium finishes than any other British woman and hopes to return to the international circuit in 2019 having had a baby in 2017 and spinal surgery in 2018.

Helen secured Rio 2016 Olympic selection with a win over ITU World Champion, Gwen Jorgensen, at the ITU World Triathlon Series event in the Gold Coast. It was the first time in two years that anyone had beaten Jorgensen, who went on to win the Olympic title.

At the London 2012 Olympics, Helen finished fifth, achieving what was the best ever performance by a British woman at an Olympic Games at the time. She was in medal contention up to the final stages when the four other athletes in the lead group began to pull away.

Helen won the ITU world title in Beijing in 2011 having secured podium finishes in Madrid, Kitzbuhel and London. She also won in 2008 when the world championships was held as a stand alone event rather than the current Series format. On a cold, rainy day in Vancouver she broke away unexpectedly with Sarah Haskins (USA) and beat her in a sprint finish. She went on to compete in the Olympic Games the same year, where she finished 21st.

Helen was born in Elgin, Scotland, and moved to South Wales as a very young child. She won her first world title as Helen Tucker before marrying fellow Welsh triathlete, Marc Jenkins, who represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games in 2004 and now coaches Helen.

They were married in October 2008 at Disney World in Orlando, Florida and live in Bridgend, South Wales with their baby daughter, who was born in August 2017.